Suspender-buckle



(No Model.)

- J. A. TRAUT.

SUSPENDER BUCKLE. No. 474,199. Patented May 3, 1892.

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ii NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JUSTUS A. TRAUI,'OF HARTFORD, CONNEGTIGUT.

SUSPENDER-BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,199, dated May 3, 1892.

Application filed June 11, 1891.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J UsTUs A. TRAUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspender-Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of suspender-buckles usually made of wire and which have a clamp-ley er carrying the castoff ring.

The object of my invention is to furnish a cast-off buckle of that class in which the clamp lever shall be locked closed by the frame yieldingly grasping the sides of said lever.

In the drawingsaccompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front view of my improved buckle. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the closed buckle as seen from the right hand in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar edge view showing the buckle opened. Fig. 4 is a front view of one modified form of the buckle. Fig. 5 is an edge view of themoditication shown in Fig. i and illustrates the operation of the cast-off. Fig. 6 is afront view of a different kind of modification of the buckle, in which the lever-clamps bear only upon the main portion of thelever-arm. Fig. 7 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 8 is a front View of the form of buckle shown in Fig. 1, but with a clamp-lever not made of wire.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures.

The improved buckle shown in the drawings consists of a frame and a clamp-lever pivotally supported on the frame below the back plate thereof. Said clamp-lever is or may be of the construction described in the prior Letters Patent of the United States No. 451,840, granted to George B. Pilkington May 5, 1891, said clamp lever, as there shown, being formed of a single piece of wire. The clamplever may, however, be formed of a piece of sheet metal or of alight casting, as illustrated in Fig. 8 of this specification. When the lever is constructed of wire as described in the aforesaid Letters Patent, it consists of a leverarm, (comprising the sides 10 and 12) provided at the lower end thereof with the hook H, whereon the cast-off ring 14 is supported, the

Serial No. 395,864:- (No model.)

oppositely-extending arms or bars and 22 on the sides 10 and 12, respectively, together forming a clamp-bar, designated in a general way by E, and .the downwardly-projecting bearing-arms 7 and 9, connected to the clamp-bar by the intermediate portions 11 and 13, respectively. Said bearing-arms 7 and 9 have at their lower ends suitablyformed eyes, substantially as described, which close over the lower portion of the frame, whereby the lever is pivotally supported on the frame.

The frame consists, essentially, of a suitable back plate, as P, usually furnished on its upper edge with the forwardly-projecting teeth 16 for engaging the web (not shown) of the suspender in a well-known manner. From the ends of the back plate the frame has two side bars 2 and 4 extending downward and turning inwardly to form the horizontal side portions 3 and 5, respectively, for carrying Then the lever-arm is of a construction bringing the hook H below said lever-clamps 6 and 8, these clamps act upon and engage the edges of the main portion of the lever'arm at some distance below the axis thereof, so as to sufficiently resist the swinging movement of the lever on the frame, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. When the lever-arm is relatively shorter in length and the hook H extends above said lever-clamps, these clamps operate, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, upon the hook portion II of said lever-arm in the same manner, essentially, as in the form of buckle shown in Figs. 6 and 7, but with the additional function of locking between said hook and the back portion of the lever-arn1,tl1ereby serving not only to detain the lever-arm in its closed position, but also to lock the cast-off ring 14 in place on the hook, as will be understood by comparison of the several figures of drawings.

In Figs. 4 and 5 is shown a modification of the buckle, in which the lever-clamping ends are formed of a sphericalshape. This may be accomplished by means of a suitable piece secured on each of the ends 6 and 8 of the frame. The operation of this form of buckle is not materially different from the operation of the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3,

As shown in t he drawings, the buckleframe, in addition to the parts hereinbefore specifically described, has the upper bar connected to the side bars 2 and 4, which side bars carry the back plate P, hereinbefore mentioned. \Vhen thus constructed, the frame consists of the said back plate and one piece of wire forming (in its middle portion) the said top-bar, the side bars 2 and 4, the lever-supporting arms 3 and 5, and the depending 1ever-clamping arms 6 and 8, which, it will be observed, constitute the ends of said frameforming piece of wire. The back plate P may be secured to the bars 2 and 4 by clasping the ends of the plate over said bars in a Well-known manner.

In the form of buckle shown in Fig. 8 the clamp-lever is supposed to be constructed integral and to consist of a suitable casting of the form illustrated. It may also in some 0 ises, if desired, be formed of sheet metal suitably stamped.

In using the buckle the operator grasps the upper part thereof, together with the suspender-web, by the thumb and forefinger of one hand and the hook of the buckle by the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, and by forcibly swinging the lever-arm between the lever-clamps loosens or clamps the web, as the case may be.

For taking off or putting on the cast-off without loosening the web, the user, seizing the buckle and web, as before described, draws forwardly on the ring, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, to swing the hook so far forward as to permit the removal from or the placing on the hook of the cast-off ring.

Having thus described my invention, I claim In a buckle, the combination, with the locking-lever having the clamping-bar and depending hook for cooperation with the cast-.

off ring, of the buckle-fame to which the lever is pivoted, having the independent depending spring-arms extending below the point of the hook and having enlargements or bends on their free ends wider than the openingsin the sides of the hook to prevent the escape of the ring, and cooperating with the sides of the locking-lever to h old the same in locked position, substantially as described.

J USTUS A. TRAUT. Witnesses:

FRANCIS I-I. RICHARDS, HENRY L. REOKARD. 

